Transportation infrastructure contributes to habitat loss and fragmentation, where animals are impeded from travelling through their environment without avoiding transportation infrastructure or the mortality risks involved in crossing roads and railways.
South Africa is faced with massive challenges generally and despite some of those not emanating from the environmental sector, they do spill over.
We are in the Outeniqua Mountains above George to conduct small mammal surveys as part of a project intended to map the distribution of species of conservation concern across South Africa. Our target species is the Long-tailed Forest Shrew (Myosorex longicaudatus), listed as Endangered and without a single confirmed record since the 1990s.
For most drivers, it is fairly easy to spot an animal as large as an African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, or rhino on the road. However, despite these animals being highly visible because of their large size, there are still cases of drivers colliding with these large flagship species along roads near or in protected areas.
June signals a brand-new month, the middle of the year (can you believe it?), almost mid-winter and most important, World Environment Month, with World Environment Day (WED) being celebrated on the 5th.